


It Wasn't Me

by FictionalNutter



Series: Problem 'verse [7]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort/Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fix-It, Gen, M/M, Problem 'Verse, Protective Castiel, Protective Dean Winchester, Upset Castiel, Upset Dean, Upset Sam, Voicemail, voicemail fix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 09:31:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4095898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FictionalNutter/pseuds/FictionalNutter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>FudoTwin17 on AO3 requested an installment of this 'verse in which Dean and Castiel find out about the altered voicemail from season 4.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Wasn't Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FudoTwin17](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FudoTwin17/gifts).



It was pretty rare for Sam to be off alone these days. Not because anybody doubted he could take care of himself or anything like that, but because someone was usually spending time with him. If Sam wasn't with both Castiel and Dean at the same time, he was probably off with Castiel spending time together, and if they weren't together than he was usually with Dean, since their relationship had grown and healed considerably in recent months. So, it wasn't due to any kind of planning or anything, but Sam didn't really spend a lot of time away from Dean or Castiel these days, and everyone was okay with that.

As a result, Dean and Castiel finding themselves alone the cabin they were using at the time was unusual. Sam had gone out grocery shopping, refusing to allow Dean to come fill the cart with 'processed crap.' Castiel had been immersed in some reality baking show he'd discovered, and Sam, thoroughly amused, had encouraged him to stay behind and entertain himself. That left Dean to read his book, something he only bothered with when they had downtime, and Castiel to learn how to make cupcakes.

"Do we still have cheese sticks?" Castiel asked about twenty minutes after Sam's departure.

Dean rolled his eyes and stood up, heading for the small fridge they were lucky to have. "Hang on, I'll check." While he was up he might as well grab a beer, anyway. After snagging his drink and giving the interior of the fridge a once-over, Dean straightened and moved back over to his chair. "That'd be a negative, Cas. No more cheese." The angel had developed a love of dairy products, especially cheese, since Sam had taken to getting him to experiment with food.

Castiel peeled his eyes away from the television to scowl at the fridge. "Will Sam be getting more?"

Dean chuckled and snagged his phone off the table. "I'll text him and tell him you want cheese, okay?"

"Thank you, Dean," Castiel replied formally, turning back to his show.

Dean huffed a laugh to himself as he shot off the text: Ur little angel wants cheese n we need more BEER

A 'ding' from behind him surprised Dean, and he turned to see Sam's phone light up on the windowsill beside the door. "Oh my god," he breathed, jumping up to snatch the phone. "This is the best day ever."

Castiel glanced up, frowning at the scene. "Sam forgot his phone? What if something happens?"

Dean waved a hand dismissively. "He'll be fine. It's only Wal-Mart. You don't get it - he  _never_ forgets his phone. He's super anal about stuff like this. I'm going to have so much fun!"

Castiel moved over to peer over Dean's shoulder at the phone. "What are you going to do?"

Dean started rapidly switching menus on the phone, changing settings as he went. "Change all his ringtones to something stupid, change the default language of the menus to Mandarin or something..." Dean trailed off, focusing on choosing an appropriately obnoxious ringtone.

"The purpose of this being...?" Castiel prompted.

"To screw with him," Dean replied immediately, grinning. "It's kind of hard to actually prank Sam these days. This is an easy way to mess with him and not start a war."

Castiel still looked confused, but returned to the couch to watch his program. "Very well. Enjoy yourself, I suppose."

"I will!" Dean called back cheerfully, changing a setting to turn all the menus on Sam's phone an obnoxious purple. Humming to himself, he flipped through menus to find that the voicemail icon was blinking. He'd texted, not called, so he wasn't sure why Sam's phone would register any new messages. It was hardly his business to meddle, but Dean wasn't really one to pass up the opportunity to snoop through his brother's stuff.

Dialing the voicemail line, Dean was surprised to be told there were three saved messages prompting to be re-saved. Tentatively, he pressed the button to hear them. The first one almost made him drop the phone. It was John, brusquely leaving instructions for Sam, then hanging up. When the phone parroted back the time and date, Dean realized that it had to be the last voicemail Sam had ever received from their father. He must've kept it backed up on his computer or something, because this wasn't the phone he'd had back then. Dean had a sinking feeling he knew what the next message might be.

As the phone began the second recording, Dean winced at having his theory proven right. It was an obnoxious voicemail from himself, demanding Sam hurry back with their grease filled dinner. He didn't remember exactly what day that had been, but it was definitely the last voicemail he'd left Sam before the hell hounds had come for him. Again, Sam had to have saved it on his computer to still have access to it more than two years later. Unsure what the third voicemail could be, Dean began to pace, steeling himself for what he was certain would be a difficult message to hear.

_"Listen to me, you bloodsucking freak. Dad always said I'd either have to save you or kill you. Well, I'm giving you fair warning. I'm done trying to save you. You're a monster, Sam -- a vampire. You're not you anymore. And there's no going back."_

"What the--" Dean almost dropped the phone. The mechanical voice informed him that the message was a little over a year old - from the night Sam had set Lucifer free. "No, no, no, no," Dean muttered to himself, pressed the button to reply the message and putting the phone on speaker. "Cas! Listen to this."

Castiel looked up, turning the television off in response to the urgency in Dean's voice. "What--"

"Shut up and listen," Dean interrupted, holding out the phone as the message started over.

Castiel's face grew white as the message played, and he turned to stare at Dean in abject shock.

"I swear, I never said any of this crap," Dean insisted. "This is from the night he went to the convent, Cas. Where the hell did this come from? I left him a message, but--"

"You would not have been able to," Castiel contradicted.

"What are you talking about?" Dean demanded, confusion in his face.

"The room in which you were held is outside of this world, so to speak. You would not have been able to get a connection on your phone, much less leave a message." Castiel's brow furrowed as he contemplated the problem.

"I did though," Dean countered, still confused. "I called, got Sam's voicemail message, and left him a message apologizing for our fight, because I'd said some stuff that made me sound like our dad, which was a pretty dumb idea on my part."

Castiel shook his head again. "Zachariah must have allowed it in order to manipulate Sam," he mused, looking upset. "Sam must have been having second thoughts, or it would not have been necessary."

"Dammit!" Dean yelled, narrowly resisting the urge to chuck the phone at the wall. Instead he closed out of the voicemail menu, deliberating leaving the message there. It wasn't his to delete, although he was going to make sure Sam got it off his damn phone. "Zach said Sam would need a push," Dean remembered, swearing again under his breath. "I should have known!"

"How could you have known?" Castiel asked, raising an eyebrow. "Sam certainly never said anything."

"No, but the way he looked at me when I got there..." Dean trailed off, wincing and rubbing at his forehead. "Did he really think I was there to kill him?" He whispered to himself.

The loud sound of the Impala's engine cut off whatever response Castiel may have had, and both angel and hunter looked towards the door with apprehension.

"This'll be fun," Dean muttered, sighing heavily.

"What will you say?" Castiel asked, his voice quiet.

"I'll figure it out." Dean replied, beginning to pace across the floor.

Sam stepped through the doorway a moment later, two paper grocery sacks in his arms. He set the keys down on the little end table by the door and turned towards what passed for a kitchen in the cabin and stopped when he caught sight of Dean and Castiel. "What happened?" He demanded, concern on his face. "You two look like someone died. What'd I miss?"

Dean stepped forward and took the groceries, motioning towards the couch where Castiel still sat. "Take a seat, Sammy. We need to tell you something."

Sam obeyed, eyeing them both with concern. "You guys are freaking me out. What's going on?"

"It is all right, Sam," Castiel assured him. "Nothing bad has happened."

Dean snorted loudly. "Yeah, sure."

Castiel made a face and amended his statement. "All right, nothing bad has happened _recently_." He glanced at Dean, who shrugged in response to the emphasis. Castiel sighed and turned back to Sam. "Dean and I just became aware of something we should have known of quite some time ago."

"Okay..." Sam trailed off, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "I'm getting the feeling I'm not going to like this."

Dean shrugged, coming over towards the couch and taking a seat in one of the chairs, tossing an object back and forth between his hands.

"Hey, is that...?" Sam trailed off, patting his pockets and suddenly looking concerned. "I left my phone?"

"Yep," Dean replied, tossing the phone in question to his brother. "Of course, I couldn't let such a great opportunity go to waste. Turns out, your phone was able to clue me in on something."

Sam's eyes narrowed again. "What, did you go snooping or something?" He turned on the screen and snorted when he saw the purple menus, cycling through his phone to try and figure out what else his brother had screwed up.

Dean took a big breath, then blurted, "Your voicemail inbox was blinking."

Sam immediately went pale, and he froze, finger still hovering over the screen. "You listened to my voicemails?" He asked, his voice suddenly quiet.

"It wasn't me," Dean continued, unable to build up to it any longer. "I swear to God or whoever, Sam, it wasn't me."

Sam was still pale, and he started shaking his head automatically. "No, it's fine, Dean. Don't worry about it. I know it's not -- you know, nevermind, I don't know why I kept it." The look on Sam's face betrayed that to be a lie. He knew exactly why he'd kept the fictitious voicemail.

"Sam," Castiel said softly, waiting until the younger hunter looked at him. "You misunderstand. Dean is not apologizing - the voicemail is not real. He never left it. It was a manipulation, of Zachariah's making, we assume."

Looking very much like a lost puppy, Sam tentatively turned back towards Dean. "Did you call me?" He asked. "That night?"

"Yeah, but according to Cas I shouldn't have even been able to. Zach let me so he could twist it around. Dammit, Sam, I apologized! I acted like Dad when we fought, and Bobby yelled at me a little, so I got over myself and called to apologize." Dean blew out a breath and shook his head, huffing a laugh. "I always wondered why you didn't mention it. It didn't even occur to me that you never heard it."

Sam was shaking slightly, and he curled into Castiel's side when the angel wrapped an arm around him in comfort. "It wasn't real?" Sam asked, his voice trembling ever so slightly.

"Not one word of that crap was real, Sammy," Dean declared. "It's still on your damn phone, because I want you to delete it. I need you to believe that I would never say think something like that, let alone say it."

Sam immediately pulled up his voicemail menu, cycling through the options until the deceptive voicemail came up. His finger hovered over the delete button, the slightest hesitation creeping in. Glancing up, Sam saw the look on Dean's voice, and immediately knew that they were telling the truth. The voicemail was a lie. Sam pressed delete, then approved the selection, listening for the approval before exiting out of the voicemail menu.

Dean huffed out a breath and relaxed in his chair. "Damn apocalypse crap coming back to bite us after we already killed it," he muttered, glaring at the ceiling.

Sam suddenly laughed, realizing abruptly that a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Leaning into Castiel, he kissed the angel lightly, smiling and pulling back after a moment to say, "Thank you." Standing, he turned to face his brother, only to see the older hunter giving him a suspicious look.

"You're not going to kiss me too, are you?" Dean asked wryly, glaring half-heartedly at his brother.

Sam rolled his eyes and took the few steps to his brother's chair, pulling Dean up and into a hug. "Thank you for telling me," he murmured.

Dean tightened his grip on Sam and nodded. "Yeah, 'course. Anything else I should know about, while we're taking care of all this crap?"

Sam actually had to think about it for a moment, but he shook his head. "No, I'm pretty sure that covers it." Dean wore his amulet again already and they'd covered all the drama in Oklahoma, so Sam was fairly certain the worst was over.

"Please tell me there's pie in the bags," Dean said, eyeing the groceries they'd abandoned eagerly.

"Apple for you and strawberry rhubarb for me and Cas," Sam answered, releasing his brother from the hug and patting him on the back as he gestured towards their little kitchen.

Dean wrinkled his nose. "Rhubarb isn't a real fruit," he complained.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Which is why you get your own apple pie and Cas and I are sharing," he said pointedly. "You want dinner first or are you going straight for pie?"

Castiel stood and joined them, linking hands with Sam. "I would not be opposed to pie for dinner," he said, smiling up at his hunter.

Sam laughed and rolled his eyes. "Guess that means I'm outvoted," he replied, his tone implying it wasn't particularly put-out. "All right, I'll cut the pie."

"Dude, all I need is a fork," Dean said, grinning at his brother.

Sam huffed in mock exasperation. "Of course you do."

"We should make cupcakes soon," Castiel announced as they moved to the table, Sam shifting to pull the pies out of the bag.

Sam laughed and nodded. "I knew that was going to happen," he admitted fondly. "You and I can go shopping for baking supplies in the next day or so, okay?"

"I'm only signing off on the baking hobby if you teach him how to make pie," Dean said firmly, giving them both a mock serious stare.

"Of course," Castiel replied solemnly.

Sam snorted and sat down, passing the apple pie over to Dean and pulling out the one for himself and Castiel. The mood had lightened considerably, and he felt happier than he had in a long time. It was as though a storm cloud he'd been ignoring had suddenly left, and Sam was shocked by how much brighter everything seemed as a result.

Tucking the cell phone back into his pocket, Sam grinned at the realization that maybe now he would finally be able to truly put the apocalypse behind him and move on. If the mouthful of pie Dean's was grinning through and the light of amusement in Castiel's eyes were anything to go by, life was only going to improve from here.


End file.
